Mark Kiszla: The center position is extinct in today's NBA

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to bury a sports icon: the NBA center.

Hey, the big guy had a good, long run. But he's just another stiff now. In lieu of flowers, we'll send off the NBA center with a rewrite of a classic Randy Newman song: "Tall People Got No Reason to Live."

The NBA center is dead?

Heck, some of the Nuggets didn't even know he was sick, most particularly Kosta Koufos, who is 7 feet tall.

"I definitely think of myself as a center," Koufos told me Wednesday.

Well, hate to break this to you, big guy.

But the league has thrown dirt on basketball tradition, officially erasing center from the NBA all-star ballot. And not even a tear was shed.

What in the name of George Mikan is going on?

The position had a duty to die, according to NBA executive vice president of operations Stu Jackson, calling the term "outdated and not representative of today's game or players."

Who knew? Quicker than you can dump an iPhone 4S in the recycle bin, the NBA center has become more archaic than a typewriter.

Shaquille O'Neal's size 22 shoes should now be considered a museum piece, almost as big and quaint as the Flyer built more than a century ago by Orville and Wilbur Wright.

Sure, we should have seen this coming. In fact, Nuggets coach George Karl had been warning me for years of the center's demise. But, per usual, I didn't listen to his sage hoops wisdom.

When did the center become an endangered species?

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"I think it probably happened when coaches decided not to play big guys who are stiffs," Karl said.

The Miami Heat reminded us a championship can be won without even a single true center playing major minutes. As a 21st century renaissance man, Karl divides his players into bigs, wings and point guards.

You insist on calling somebody a center? Stop sounding like your grandfather.

So what are the Nuggets doing? A whole corner of their locker room looks like Jurassic Park. Line up center JaVale McGee next to Timofey Mozgov and Koufos, what have you got? More than 21 feet of old school basketball. And don't forget power forward Kenneth Faried, the Manimal who thinks he can leap the Empire State Building in a single bound.

The Denver Post's Benjamin Hochman and Chris Dempsey post analysis, notes, video and more on this blog dedicated to the Denver Nuggets.

"The game has changed. Every big is skilled," said Koufos, who apparently has won a starting job in the Nuggets lineup as — get this — a center. "There are centers in the league. But the way the sport is played has evolved."

Long live King LeBron James and refined stars who can do it all, from shoot to rebound and defend.

The NBA center is dead.

The Nuggets are bucking a trend with a whole bunch of bigs on the roster.

Come to think of it, that might not be a bad idea.

With Koufos, McGee and Mozgov rumbling down the lane, rattling rims and causing mismatches in the paint, maybe what we've stumbled across is a theme for this Denver season:

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